Wire cable dispenser

ABSTRACT

A wire cable dispenser has a stand for resting on a supporting surface in the work area with a pair of reels disposed in confronting relation on the stand to receive a cable coil therebetween for dispensing, such reels defining a coil receiving hub, and a wire guide swingable adjacent the coil for feeding the wire cable from the coil.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to wire cable dispensers which canreadily receive pre-wound coils of electric cable such as are offered byelectric equipment suppliers and dispense the cable at the work sitewithout it becoming entangled with itself.

2. Background Art

There has been for some time the need to be able to utilize wire cablewhich comes from the supplier in the form of a pre-wound coil withoutthe cable becoming entangled with itself or nearby objects at the jobsite. Prior art efforts to allow unwinding of wire cable or the likehave generally involved having the wire cable pre-wound on a drum fromwhich it is withdrawn. More recently, wire suppliers have been offeringwire cable in coils which are secured against unraveling by wire ties,tape or shrink wrap which are wound around the coils and must be removedin order to dispense the cable. As soon as the coil is freed of thiswrapping, it will tend to unwind and unless contained will soon becomean entangling mess which requires constant attention by the cableinstaller, thus slowing down his or her productivity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

I have devised a wire cable dispenser which may be opened up and a coilof wire cable installed therein, and thereafter the wire coil dispensedas needed without entanglement.

My cable dispenser may be adjusted to accommodate various size coils,and the structure of the cable dispenser is such that the wrappingcontaining the coil may be removed either before or after the coil isinstalled in the dispenser.

The dispenser is of sufficiently light weight so it is manually portableat the job site, but yet can be placed on the floor or other supportingsurface and the cable pulled out of it without the dispenseroverturning.

My cable dispenser comprises a portable stand that may be set on thefloor or other supporting surface and provided with rubber feet whichwill help prevent it from sliding as cable is pulled out of it if thefloor is quite smooth. The stand has a horizontal bearing shaft on whicha pair of opposed reels are rotatably mounted, each reel having abearing hub with spokes radiating from the hub to an outer circularring. The spokes of the opposed reels are configured to interleave anddefine a cable receiving hub, with the hub and those portions of thespokes between the hub and ring being spaced apart to provide a cablecontainment area. The width of the containment area may be adjusted toaccommodate varying size coils of cable by shifting at least one of thebearing hubs toward and away from the other. Finally a wire guide isprovided aligned with the containment area and through which the cableis strung to prevent unintended unwinding and entanglement of the cable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of my cable dispenser with a wire cablecoil thereon;

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1 but without the cable coil and showing howthe spokes of the opposed reels are configured to be interleaved;

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2 but with one of the reels removed axiallyfrom the horizontal bearing shaft;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view through the cable dispensershowing the interleaving of the spokes of the reels;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the rear reel of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a front view of the front reel of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

As shown in the drawings, my cable dispenser comprises a portable stand10 having a pair of horizontal tubular feet 12 and 14 having rubber cups16, 18, 20 and 22 to improve traction on smooth surfaces. An invertedV-shaped frame 26 having uprights 28 and 30 are secured as by welding toa tubular bearing 32 adapted to receive a horizontal bearing shaft 34provided with a series of transverse pin receiving holes 36 foradjustable reception of the cotter-like pin 38 for determining the widthof the cable containment area hereafter described, whereby the dispensermay be adapted to various size coils of cable. A cup-like retainer 40received over and locked on the shaft 34 prevents the shaft from beingwithdrawn from the tubular bearing 32 in a direction to the right asviewed in FIG. 4.

Mounted in confronting relationship on the horizontal bearing shaft 34is a pair of reels 42 and 44 each having a central hub designated in thedrawings at 46 and 48 and an outer circular ring designated at 50 and52. Four spokes extend between the central hub of each reel and itsouter circular ring and are secured thereto as by welding. The spokesfor reel 42 are designated by reference numerals 54,56,58 and 60, whilethose for reel 44 are shown at 62,64, 66 and 68. The spokes are spacedat 90 degrees around their respective hubs as best shown in FIGS. 5 and6.

Each spoke is formed with an axially displaced portion DP adjacent itscentral hub 46 and 48. Such displaced portions of the spokes of eachreel when interleaved with the displaced portions of the spokes of theopposite reel, extend into the 90 degree angular space of theconfronting reel. The thus interleaved, eight axially displaced portionsform a cable coil receiving hub best visualized in FIGS. 1, 4, 5 and 6with those portions of the spokes radially outwardly of the displacedportions forming sides on what may be characterized as a containmentarea A within which a cable coil resides when in the dispenser. Thoseportions of the legs radially outwardly of the displaced portions DPforming the sides of the containment area are designated by thereference numerals 54 a, 56 a, 58 a, 60 a, 62 a, 64 a, 66 a and 68 a inFIGS. 5 and 6. The diameter of this cable receiving hub is designed toconform to the inside diameter of the coils of cable to be dispensed,and the width of the containment area may be increased or reduced asnecessary to accommodate any particular cable coil by removing andrepositioning the cotter-like key 38 on the shaft 34.

A cable guide 70 having an eye 72 is mounted for swingable movementaround the shaft 34 to keep the cable centered in the containment areaand prevent entanglement as the cable is pulled off the periphery of thecable coil. The guide is of an L-shaped configuration with the endopposite the eye being welded or other wise secured to a disc 74 mountedon the shaft 34 between the tubular bearing 32 and the hub 46 so thatthe guide may rotate relative to the shaft 34 and also the hub. Thecable to be unwound is fed through the cable guide eye and when pulled,the guide will rotate to a position aligning the eye with the directionof pull and tending to keep the unwinding cable aligned with the centerof the coil.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that coils of wire cable receivedfrom the electrical equipment supply houses may be installed in my cabledispenser simply by removing the cotter-like key 38, then removing thefront cable reel, placing the new cable coil over the displaced spokesDP of the opposite reel, and then replacing the removed reel 42 on theshaft 34, inserting the pin 38, threading the cable from the spoolthrough the wire guide, removing the tape or wire ties holding the cablecoil together, if they were not removed before inserting the cable intothe dispenser, and the dispenser is ready for operation.

The pin 38 and the pin receiving holes 36 act as stops to adjust thewidth of the cable spool containment area.

While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described,it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe allpossible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in thespecification are words of description rather than limitation, and it isunderstood that various changes may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

1. A cable dispenser for receiving a cable coil and dispensing the samecomprising, in combination: a portable stand to rest on a supportingsurface in the work area where the cable is being strung and having ahorizontal bearing shaft; a pair of reels each having an outer circularring and a central hub mounted in confronting relation on the bearingshaft, with spokes extending between the central hub and ring; thespokes of the reels defining opposite sides of a cable coil containmentarea with portions of the spokes laterally displaced and interleaved todefine a coil receiving hub; and a wire cable guide swingably supportedfor rotation about the axis of said bearing shaft with an eye throughwhich the wire cable runs disposed in alignment with said cable coilcontainment area to prevent entanglement of the cable as it is withdrawnfrom the cable dispenser.
 2. The invention defined by claim 1 wherein atleast one of said central hubs being shiftable axially on the bearingshaft to vary the width of the containment area to accommodate varyingaxial lengths of a cable coil within the confinement area.
 3. Theinvention defined by claim 2 wherein stops are provided on said bearingshaft to limit separation between the central hubs.
 4. A cable dispenserfor receiving a cable coil and dispensing the same comprising, incombination; a portable stand to rest on a supporting surface in thework area where the cable is being strung and having a horizontalbearing shaft; a pair of reels each having an outer circular ring and acentral hub with spokes extending between the central hub and ring; saidcentral hubs rotatably mounted on the bearing shaft in confrontingrelation with the rings and spokes being spaced apart to define a cablecontainment area; the spokes of the reels having portions shaped tocooperatively define a cable spool receiving hub having a diameter tofit within a cable coil and support the spool for rotation about saidbearing shaft; and a wire cable guide swingably supported for rotationabout the axis of said bearing shaft with an eye through which the wirecable runs disposed substantially in alignment with said cablecontainment area and preventing entanglement of the cable as it iswithdrawn from the cable containment area.
 5. A wire cable dispensercomprising, in combination: a portable stand to rest on a supportingsurface in the work area and having a bearing shaft; a pair of reelsmounted in confronting relation on the bearing shaft; said reels havingspokes defining a cable-supporting hub for receiving a cable coil, andside walls of a cable containment area; and a wire guide swingable onthe bearing shaft to guide the wire as it is pulled from the dispenser.6. The invention of claim 5 wherein one of said reels beings removablefrom its confronting relation with the other reel to permit a cable coilto be installed on the cable supporting hub.
 7. The invention of claim 5wherein said spokes have portions displaced laterally with the displacedportions of one reel interleaved between similarly displaced portions ofthe confronting reel forming the cable supporting hub.
 8. A wire cabledispenser comprising, in combination: a portable stand to rest on asupporting surface in the work area; a cable spool receiving hub mountedon the stand for rotation; spokes extending radially outwardly from saidhub to define a cable spool containment area; and some of said spokesbeing removable from said hub to permit installation of a cable coil onthe hub; and a wire guide swingable about the stand to guide cable wireas it is pulled from the dispenser.